for a national register of manuscripts has itENTHUSIASM self had a respectable history. Such a register or union catalog has been described as just the handmaiden to answer one of Clio's most pressing ulong-felt needs. Pertinent as it might be, the scope of this paper does not permit my establishing the historical setting for the present proposals that are being made by the Library of Congress. It will be possible only to tell you what these plans are. My paper, therefore, does not have a thesis; its burden is no more than a factual statement of what has recently been done. I have hesitated in using the term burden because of the connotation it may have. It certainly is no burden for me to discuss this topic of great (possibly overweening) interest to those of us at the Library of Congress who are engaged in the work of preserving manuscripts and making them available for use. While I have forsworn to recount the various earlier efforts of individuals and institutions to establish bibliographical control of manuscripts and will not comment upon the probable reasons why their plans failed, I should like to quote one plea, aptly expressed, for such a register as the Library of Congress is attempting to establish. In 1947 Theodore G. Blegen in a chapter called A Bid for Cooperation in his Grass Roots History said:
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Jan 1, 1959
Robert Land 
Open Access